The flames still burned. The stench from the cremated corpses permeated the entire camp. Covering his nose, Hudson was unable to fall asleep for a long time.
The events of the day had been far too intense. From an ordinary man who found it difficult even to kill a chicken, he had become a butcher on the battlefield. Hudson did not even know how he had made it through.
The pressure of survival transformed people. If it had not truly happened, Hudson would never have known he possessed such a rational and cold-blooded side.
Sure enough, people's potential was forced out of them. Having endured the baptism of battle and fire, Hudson had become increasingly mature and rational.
At dawn, just as a patch of red clouds appeared on the horizon, the assembly horn sounded. Military orders were absolute on the battlefield, so Hudson could only drag his exhausted body over to gather his troops.
The soldiers were in no better condition. It was clear that yesterday's events had hit them hard, and everyone needed time to recover.
Unfortunately, their opinions did not matter. The decision-makers believed in striking while the iron was hot. Why would they care about the thoughts of ordinary soldiers?
Of course, setting out was not as simple as leaving whenever they wished. The various Noble Allied Forces had gathered more than ten thousand motley troops. If they were not properly organized, they might fall into chaos before even finding the enemy.
The nobles all understood this well. After all, they had encountered one mishap after another on the way here.
The reorganization began. Unsurprisingly, families still served as the basic units. It might not have been scientific, but it was very practical.
More than eighty percent of the troops were rabble. Even their own lords could not command them with ease; if they were handed over to another officer, there would be no need to go to the battlefield at all.
Following the military structure commonly used across the continent, ten men formed a squad, a hundred formed a battalion, a thousand formed a regiment, and ten thousand formed an army. Whether it was reasonable or not, the system was simply imposed on them.
The units were all temporary, and there was no need to pay military wages. In this regard, Governor Pierce proved exceptionally generous, forming five understrength armies in one stroke.
There had happened to be seven people at last night's meeting, and they had respectively become the commanders of the five armies. If there was no inside dealing involved, Hudson would eat his knight's sword.
Unsurprisingly, the five armies were uneven in strength. The First Army led personally by Count Pierce was unquestionably elite, while the Second Army led by Viscount Oran was decent enough. The remaining three armies were difficult to describe.
Generally speaking, the lower the ranking, the weaker the army.
Unsurprisingly, the members of the former alliance were also reorganized independently into an army, with Knight Chels serving as its commander.
Because they had suffered heavy losses in yesterday's battle, this newly formed army had directly become the bottom-ranked force among the five armies.
Thanks to the large number of soldiers under his command, along with the bit of credit he had picked up on the battlefield yesterday, Hudson was honorably appointed commander of the Tenth Regiment of the Fifth Army.
It was just that this Tenth Regiment looked truly miserable. Aside from Hudson's original troops, it had only been assigned six hundred ownerless serf soldiers. This rabble had become even more deserving of the name.
In fact, those six hundred serf soldiers had only fallen into Hudson's hands because everyone else found them troublesome and did not want them.
Thanks to this, the Tenth Regiment became the only full-strength regiment in the Fifth Army, as well as one of the few full-strength regiments in the entire Noble Allied Forces.
While the other regiments in the Fifth Army generally had only four or five hundred men, the Tenth Regiment's force of over a thousand stood out conspicuously.
Everyone had been forced into it. Nominally, the entire army had been reorganized, but when it came time to implement it, the nobles' wishes were still respected.
Logically speaking, given his previous connections, Hudson should not have had much trouble finding people to form a group with. But the problem lay in the position of "regiment commander."
Everyone moved within noble circles. They could lack military talent, but political sense was absolutely indispensable.
Any normal person knew that the higher their position in the army at a time like this, the greater their initiative in the coming war and the greater their advantage in claiming territory afterward.
When personal interests were involved, no one was willing to give ground. This large number of understrength regiments was the result of everyone's compromise.
The slightly stronger families chose to act independently. The weaker families were forced to band together.
However, these alliances were only small groups of three to five knights, with very few participants.
Interest was what had led to this situation. With too many allied partners, even if they acquired territory, there would not be enough to divide among everyone.
Thanks to his previous performance and the banner of the Coslo Family, Hudson was also regarded as someone strong enough to keep all the gains for himself.
Those of equal strength wanted to act alone. As for those of unequal strength, even if Hudson were willing to lower himself to form an alliance, they would not believe he could fulfill his promises.
No matter how good their relationship had been, everyone remained sufficiently rational at this point. Everything began and ended with profit.
With things having reached this stage, Hudson could do nothing about it. He could hardly explain, "Our main force hasn't arrived. Everyone I brought is cannon fodder. Just ally with me, and you won't be left without a share after the war."
Let alone anyone else, even Hudson himself would not believe that. Even if the main force had not arrived yet, could they not catch up later?
Profit moved people's hearts. If time had not been too short, everyone would have been eager to call on friends and contacts everywhere to strengthen themselves. Why would they hide their strength?
Seeing several knights in other people's units, along with anywhere from dozens to over a hundred elite infantrymen, Hudson truly lacked confidence.
In this world where everyone competed to be less terrible, Hudson had carelessly become the most terrible of all. He felt like crying without tears.
To strengthen his forces, he had no choice but to seek out the ownerless serf soldiers. More accurately, it could not even be called seeking them out. The moment Hudson made the request, everyone unanimously agreed.
There was no other reason. They simply could not command any more troops. The cannon fodder made up of their own serfs had already left them overwhelmed, and they truly did not want to invite more trouble.
In fact, Hudson's original target had not been the serf soldiers, but the surviving guards left behind by the fallen lords. Unfortunately, Knight Chels, the army commander, had claimed those veterans long ago.
Frankly speaking, it was not just Hudson's Tenth Regiment that was miserable. The First Regiment personally led by Chers was no better.
Aside from his personal strength, the few dozen soldiers under Chers's command were truly not presentable.
Even after using his status as army commander to seize several dozen veterans left behind by his unfortunate allies, little had changed.
Chers had even been forced to accept ownerless serf soldiers to pad out his numbers. However, out of consideration for command, he had been far more restrained.
He had accepted fewer than two hundred men, causing the First Regiment to become the smallest regiment in the entire army.
If not for the Tenth Regiment bringing up the rear, Chers's First Regiment would have been the Fifth Army's weakest regiment in combat power.
For a time, Hudson had even suspected that Chers had strongly pushed for him to become commander of the Tenth Regiment simply to avoid embarrassment.
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